1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and imaging method for acquiring a plurality of image data while changing focus position, and combining the plurality of image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Taking a photograph that is in focus at all focus positions is difficult. Therefore, after acquiring image data by shooting, image data is further acquired by performing shooting again with a focus position having been moved, and a plurality of image data are acquired by repeating this operation. It has been proposed to provide image data that is in focus over a wide range of subject distance by combining the plurality of image data that have been acquired (refer to Japanese patent laid-open No. 2001-298755 (hereafter referred to as “patent publication 1”)). It should be noted that this combination processing is called focus stacking processing.
Also, in order to acquire a combined image having a greater depth of field using focus stacking processing, a focus position when a release button has been pressed down fully is made a reference position, and first a focus lens is moved towards the close-up end, and then move towards the infinity end (refer to Japanese patent laid open number 2015-186088 (hereafter referred to as “patent publication 2”)). A focus position when the release button is pressed down fully is an in-focus position that has been obtained using AF, and is optimal for focus precision and carrying out alignment.